The present invention relates to optical workstations of the type having a work surface made of an optical breadboard which is held by a supporting frame.
A typical prior art workstation comprises an optical breadboard mounted on a steel frame, usually on vibration damped mounts. A typical optical breadboard has parallel upper and lower rectangular stainless steel plates separated by a laminar or cellular structure, sometimes including a honeycomb structure. An optical breadboard usually has steel or wooden sides and may incorporate damping devices within its interior. The upper plate has an array of threaded mounting holes for mounting optical and other components. Prior art workstations also sometimes incorporate mountings for shelves or other surfaces for writing support, storage or placement of items of equipment.
FIG. 1A of the accompanying drawings shows an example of a prior art optical workstation 100, trade name TMC 63-500 series, supplied by the Technical Manufacturing Corporation of Peabody, Mass., USA. The optical workstation 100 has a steel frame 102 with four legs 104 held together at near-floor level by bars 106 linking the four legs 104. Tie-bar gussets 108 are also provided to increase frame rigidity, thereby compensating for the lack of a front tie-bar which is omitted in order to provide a knee-well space. Diagonal strengthening elements 116 are also provided. An optical breadboard 110 is supported by the frame 102 on gimbal piston isolators 112 fixed above the top of the legs 104. The optical workstation top 114 extends laterally beyond the frame slightly when viewed in plan view.
FIG. 1B of the accompanying drawings shows another example of a prior art optical workstation, which is supplied by Newport Corporation of Irvine, Calif., USA. The basic components of the optical workstation are a frame 12, with four legs 6, and an optical breadboard 5. The optical breadboard 5 is held to the frame 12 by mounting points 10 situated at the upper ends of the legs 6. The frame 12 is held together by upper and lower reinforcement struts 7 and 8 linking the legs 6, and also by an additional diagonal reinforcement strut 9 at the rear of the frame 12. The front of the frame is left open for knee-well access of a person seated at the workstation. The frame 12 is made of steel to provide sufficient structural rigidity. The frame 12 also incorporates castors 11. An option available with this Newport workstation is a support ring 1, shown in the figure. The support ring 1 is removably mounted to the frame 12 by means of four elongate bracket mounts 4, each connected by bolts to a leg 6 and extending diagonally upward and outward to a corner of the support ring 1. The support ring 1 surrounds the optical breadboard 5 and supports armrests 2 and a removable component mount 3 for mounting equipment to the support ring 1.
According to the present invention there is provided an optical workstation comprising an optical breadboard supported by a frame, the frame comprising a plurality of upstanding legs interconnected by laterally extending cross-beams, the cross-beams laterally enclosing a space into which the optical breadboard is received.
By laterally enclosing the optical breadboard with the cross-beam frame elements, side protection for the optical breadboard is provided, thus protecting it from lateral impacts against which conventional damping mounts are not effective. In addition, since the cross-beams are part of the frame structure, they provide a stable and rigid platform for mounting optical and other components at the very edge of the workstation outside the optical breadboard area. By contrast, in the prior art Newport design of FIG. 1B, the work station edges have less stable mounting on the cantilevered support ring 1. In the prior art TMC design of FIG. 1A, the work station edges have mounting points provided by the overhanging edges of the workstation top 114, which are exposed to side impacts.
Incorporation of the cross-beams into the frame structure also provides a level of structural rigidity inherently superior to the above-described prior art optical workstations. For what is believed to be the first time, this permits the optical workstation frame to be made of aluminum rather than steel, since the enhanced inherent rigidity of the cross-beam design allows the lower strength material, aluminum, to be used while still retaining sufficient rigidity for usual optical workstation applications. The conventional prejudice against use of aluminum for optical workstations is thus overcome to provide a much lighter, more maneuverable product. For example, comparable aluminum and steel frames made according to the embodiment of the invention described below weighed 38 kg and 95 kg respectively. Other lightweight, lower strength materials, besides aluminum, could also be used to take advantage of the higher integrity structure, for example composite or compound materials.
The cross-beams can advantageously be provided with anchor points for mounting further optical components, thus taking advantage of the presence of stable peripheral frame elements. The anchor points may be arranged in a regularly spaced line or array for any of the cross-beams where a component mounting option is desired. In one example, the anchor points are spaced apart by a pitch of 100 mm (or 4xe2x80x3) to provide compatibility with the pitch of the optical breadboard which will typically have a 50 mm or 25 mm (2xe2x80x3 or 1xe2x80x3) pitch. The anchor points may be spigot holes, threaded holes or a mixture of both.
The optical breadboard is preferably isolation mounted to the frame via damping mounts that are attached to the frame and support damping units. The damping mounts may be formed so as to give additional structural rigidity to the frame. The damping mounts may be directly attached to the frame, indirectly attached to the frame by way of at least one support beam, or may be attached to the frame using any combination of direct and indirect attachment means. Any support beam(s) may be formed so as to give additional structural rigidity to the frame.
The frame may be formed using modular components. Many such modular frames may be envisaged. In one example, the frame is assembled from two end units linked by laterally extending cross-beams. In this case, each end unit is formed integrally from two legs combined with laterally extending upper and lower crossbeams. Each end unit may be formed as a single welded or molded piece. Alternatively, an end unit may be formed by joining two legs with laterally extending upper and lower cross-beams by means of releasable fasteners. Such modular frames are simple to assemble and disassemble, and can be packed flat for transportation.